X Factor Australia 5 – Live Show 9

At this point, I think, everyone knows the score. The contestants know who is probably going to be the top 3. The juggernaut that is Dami, Jai, and Taylor only has one stepping stone to overcome before their final 3 becomes a reality. The question in my mind is did THIRD D3GREE do enough to change that outcome? We will see, let’s dive into the eight performances from tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzMPCGLlfhg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tna-spL1GwY

Frankly, Taylor Henderson killed both “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Against All Odds.” He had a few well placed growls and aside from one or two bum notes on the Phil Collins track he was pretty much perfect. I especially enjoyed his slow-downed arrangement of “Girls..” It isn’t like I haven’t heard this slowed down before by other people, but I believe Taylor probably executed this the best of anyone I can recall. Between two solid vocals, if Taylor wasn’t already a lock for the final 3, he really is now. Taylor is on the right swing of upward momentum to take this thing from Dami, who at this moment is on a slight downward motion. For “Against All Odds” we all know Ronan loves Phil Collins, for some reason, it is a bit pedestrian of a song choice and arrangement, but he does a good job with it. I suppose his creativity was used mostly on the Cyndi Lauper track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSkOmN-oxQg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycjJLd3h9k8

I kept going back and forth with Dami Im‘s placement in my head. Sometimes I thought she was third or second or perhaps even fourth, but then I looked back at “Saving All My Love For You.” And while it wasn’t a big wow moment, it was a powerful controlled vocal and in a classic where Dami shines. Miley might be Dami’s downfall though, “Wrecking Ball” made Dami sound breathy and nervous. Things I wouldn’t normally associate with her. Ultimately the song did her no favors. All of this being said, Dami is still a virtual lock for the top 3. Even if she only ends up with the third highest votes (which is completely possible after this set of performances).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWdqhxCNzeA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HS5FnOGXZs

Of the two performances “Dynamite” was definitely Jai Waetford‘s stronger one. He worked the stage with confidence and swagger and the vocals were mostly on point. Another point to Jai for hitting his fan-base with the track. His core voters probably think this song is a bit old-fashioned, but they certainly know of it. I did not enjoy his ballad “I Won’t Give Up” as much, I think it exposed his thin vocals. But the candles were a nice trick, and Jai holding a guitar is a great image all of his voters can take to the bank as they mass vote for him into the final 3. Jai is probably is in the final 3 and is legitimately competition for the win. That being said, it shouldn’t be. It should be between Dami and Taylor, so I hope the farthest Jai gets is second. Both for the sake of the competition, but also for his sake. I don’t think Jai needs to be rushing out any releases. The reason Justin Bieber is so successful isn’t because of his looks or voice (which don’t hurt) it is because he has solid songs to back it up. Jai needs to think about that as he moves forward. Don’t just put out anything, put out solid, well-written, well-produced songs. Justin already has his Aussie equivalent with Cody Simpson, so you got to be more than the “Australian Justin Bieber.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmjGZmt1tkc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSKUxRUwLJs

I feel like it is an understatement to say that I am disappointed in THIRD D3GREE. They did both “Pound the Alarm” and “Give Me Everything” pretty well and fun. But in a night of two songs, you don’t want to be so one note. From both songs I got that 3D is fun and can rap. No depth there. Just two very fun performances. I really, really wanted a solid ballad from them. They did sound good. But in this world of ballads and soul searching the top three are doing well avoiding the topic is wrong. They needed to out-best them. I understand their logic. They asked what do we do best? Fun. Fun. Fun. And then they delivered it. But it just isn’t going to push them over the edge in my mind. It makes me sad to think they came all this way just to be another Three Wishez, but so is life, I guess.

Taylor Henderson

Dami Im

Jai Waetford

THIRD D3GREE

The ranking says it all. 3D is on the way out, if only and only if Jai or Dami fans falter enough to give them space, but I don’t suspect they will. To much is on the line for them too. The sad thing is, even if 3D sneak into the final 3, they certainly couldn’t win. It is a three way race for gold, like it always has been. Good luck Dami, Taylor and Jai. To the best performer goes the spoils!

Did you missed the mess that was the second half on Jai first song once he forgot the lyrics and went of pitchy?

Listening

Yeah I know the score pretty obvious what’s gonna happen even though THIRD D3GREE had the best performance of the night with Pound The Alarm, but what can yo do. The Australian public just aint voting for them.

Anyway I got to say I was pretty let down w/ the performances they were just okay w/ the exception of THIRD D3GREE’s Pound The Alarm. And yeah i’m including their first performance in that assessment. I just didn’t like Give Me Everything Tonight it just had the wrong vibe for that song. It was to fun and bubbley. Oh and their outfits were horrible. When I saw them I actually muttered are they trying to sabotage them, they looked that stupid.

But with Pound The Alarm that woke me up that was their best performance. They looked cool and I loved the dancing especially that crotch grab section. Oh but that one bit where Jordan’s leg went flying up I was startled and thought what’s going on, then he got down. Love all the dance break sections.

THIRD D3GREE really deserve to make it to the final. They should take the place of Jai but that’s unlikely to happen. Welp they better get a record deal out of this b/c they look and perform like pros.You look at them and compare them to the others and they looked like amateurs going against a polished group, the difference was striking.

Jason Gorny

Hopefully Third Degree will get a recording contract. And I can’t stand Jai! All singing competition shows need to ban good looking young guys from the show.

khomphuong2

I would rank 1 Dami Im 2 Taylor Henderson (Against the Odd was horrible) 3 Thirdd3gree 4 Jai -Please get off my screen already. Who would vote for this little kid.

Listening

That’s par for the course but it never matters because he’s adorable. It’s so annoying then you have to sit through them coming down hard on Jordan, telling him to step up his game. I mean am I in the twilight zone say something about Jai’s weak and pitchy vocals.

Jordan

3D is the only act that has potencial to be huge, the blond girl from the group is actually the best singer in the show, she has way more control than Dami (I do like Dami). I hope they make the finale

Luke

Taylor has zero range and sounded awful on Against All Odds (awful song choice). There are so many similar artists who can sing circles around him. Who knows…he may be way better than what he’s shown but his song choices have always been so safe.

Jai makes me cringe. So terrible, especially on IWGU.

Dami has been on a downward/static slope since like week 2. Wrecking Ball was actually the style that works best for her (hair-band0esque power ballads) but she didn’t sound the best on it. SAMLFY was a snore; if they changed the arrangement from the dated Casio keyboard original, it would have had potential.

I know 3D has no chance of being safe tomorrow but Pound the Alarm was great! I disagree about them showing diversity through a ballad since they’ve proven they can’t all sing but maybe turn a ballad into a club jam?

Iav123

taylor in first! against all odds has to be the his aboslute worst, dami ruined both of her songs and jai hust got an standing O out of pitty!

Bluebeat

I agree with your ranking. I don’t really like Taylor, but he did slightly better than the other 4. However, I feel like Jai is going to win. Dami is just an icebreaker for ratings kind of like Bella Ferraro last year. That’s just how I see it right now.

Jason Gorny

*sigh* well i knew third degree was not going to make it. they were so much better than jai. hopefully they will get a recording contract with sony. heck if i had my own music label, i would sign them in a heartbeat. i do not want jai to win… I want either Taylor or Dami to win. I would be happy with either one of them as long as it is not Jai…